Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

The revolution will be supervised.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Nevertheless, she persisted.

Let there be snark.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Everybody saw this coming.

False Scribes! False Scribes!

We have all the best words.

How does anyone do Gilligan’s Island as trump world and not cast Jared as Gilligan?

They are all Michael Cohen now.

Fuck if i know. i just get yelled at when i try it.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if I ever tried to have some of you killed.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

I really should read my own blog.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

This is all too absurd to be reality, right?

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Good luck with your asparagus.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / You wouldn’t even be yourself if you weren’t telling a lie

You wouldn’t even be yourself if you weren’t telling a lie

by | 133 Comments

This post is in: 

Let’s follow up on Postmaster General DeJoy’s announcement yesterday that he was pausing the removal of sorting machines and blue boxes, and re-instating overtime.  First, Nancy Pelosi talked to him on the phone and wasn’t impressed:

The Postmaster General frankly admitted that he had no intention of replacing the sorting machines, blue mailboxes and other key mail infrastructure that have been removed and that plans for adequate overtime, which is critical for the timely delivery of mail, are not in the works.

Second, a local reporter in Grand Rapids:


Conclusion: his statement was a lie in response to tremendous pressure. Also, don’t get me wrong: we need to apply tremendous pressure. But these guys are going to keep fucking with the PO until it is well and truly fucked, and we need to be ready with a unfucking commission on Day 1.

Reader Interactions

133Comments

  2. 2.

    rikyrah

    The thing is about this USPS story…
    It’s both nationwide AND local.
    It’s everywhere, yet, your local camera crew can go find a local facility that has been hurt. They can find local people who haven’t gotten their medicines. They find the local people – the people who ‘ look like me’ who have been affected by this attack on the Post Office.

    Fox News and the White House can’t gaslight and pushback against every local community having some story – whether on camera, on the radio, or in the local paper, telling the truth about it.
    THEY CAN SEE IT WITH THEIR OWN EYES.
    And local whistleblowers are telling the truth about what’s happening.

    Now, it’s time for these State Attorneys General, to bring this muthaphucka up on charges.

  3. 3.

    Yutsano

    Katie Porter is going to clean his clock. Then dirty it just so she can clean it again. Hell the Senate hearing on Friday could be fun if Kamala is involved.

  4. 4.

    NotMax

    Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

    “It doesn’t say a word about intentional malevolent f*ckery, libs, so there.”

    How long until the inscription on the Postal Museum (formerly a post office) in D.C. is sandblasted away?

    Messenger of Sympathy and Love
    Servant of Parted Friends
    Consoler of the Lonely
    Bond of the Scattered Family
    Enlarger of the Common Life

    Carrier of News and Knowledge
    Instrument of Trade and Industry
    Promoter of Mutual Acquaintance
    Of Peace and of Goodwill Among Men and Nations.

  5. 5.

    Brachiator

    Also, don’t get me wrong: we need to apply tremendous pressure. But these guys are going to keep fucking with the PO until it is well and truly fucked, and we need to be ready with a unfucking commission on Day 1.

    We need to remove this guy from his position.

    Is it possible, if it came down to it, to have the military or national guard to help process and deliver mail or at least ballots cast?

    It is so damn strange to wake up every day and see this idiot Trump try to assert his will as an agent of chaos.

  6. 6.

    Calouste

    DeJoy works for the shitgibbon, so everything he says is a lie. It’s that simple. It applies to all of them.

  7. 7.

    dmsilev

    The pressure won’t go away until the fuckery is not just stopped but reversed. What these people refuse to understand is that many many many people rely on the Post Office, not just for ballots but for a whole slew of things.

  8. 8.

    piratedan

    i say have the US Marshall’s office detain the postmaster in a federal detention area until he gets the appropriate release affidavits via USPS, as we already have confirmation that he’s already broken the law by his own admission….

  9. 9.

    Patricia Kayden

    I’d love to see DeJoy punished for lying but with this administration, nothing will happen.

  10. 10.

    Marcopolo

    From the thread down below, Patterson NJ mail facility sorting machines in parking lot:

    .@USPS GR Patterson location has pieces of the mail sorting machines out in the parking lot. @WOODTV pic.twitter.com/OuugjhTbfE— Heather Walker (@_HeatherWalker) August 19, 2020

    And from Portland OR:

    "New images obtained by ABC News appear to show mail sorting machines — critical pieces of equipment used to speed up the mail delivery process — sitting in parts in a postal facility in Portland, Ore." https://t.co/CAdlPzZyfz— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 19, 2020

  11. 11.

    geg6

    This mother fucker needs to learn a fucking lesson.  The hard way.  I hope he is torn to bits on Friday and Monday (if there is anything left for the House at that point).

  14. 14.

    JPL

    @Yutsano:  Too many democratic legislators want their few minutes of fame, and won’t do the prudent thing which is to pass their time to Porter.

  15. 15.

    PPCLI

    It’s extremely serious that this destruction of the USPS is being weaponized to threaten fair elections, but it’s also important to hammer home to rural voters that this is part of a plan to wreck the post office so it can be privatized, as the Republicans have dreamed about for decades. If the USPS vanishes or goes private, there is no way that Fedex or UPS is going to deliver inexpensive mail to Hidden Holler W. Va or Crottes de Lapin Missouri or any of the thousands of other tiny towns across the country. Say goodbye to the local post office folks!

    (Admission: I don’t think there actually is a Crottes de Lapin Missouri, and though I don’t doubt that there is at least one town called Hidden Holler in W.Va I don’t actually know that.

    In particular, this is a point that can usefully be driven home in the Montana Senatorial Election. Craft an ad now!!

  16. 16.

    Howard Beale IV

    @geg6: If he stiffs the committee and refuses to answer any question, give him Inherent contempt and never let him out.

  18. 18.

    Marcopolo

    @rikyrah:  I’m pretty sure it was Martin in a thread a few days ago who pointed out that since the Post Office is organized around zip codes, and since the Census and Census tracts are also organized via zip codes are a fundamental unit for tracking the vote in elections, that a smart operator could fine tune USPS fuckery by laser focusing mail delivery issues in specific areas in swing states where there are heavily D populations.  I sure hope that this is addressed in the House hearing on Monday.

    At least from the coverage I have been reading the mail delivery issues have not been so focused so far.  Once again thanking the low quality hires that make up the Trump administration for the seemingly more heavy handed approach we’ve seen to date.

  19. 19.

    PPCLI

    @JPL: Very true. Time and again, the Democrats set up crucial hearings and then go in with no coordinated plan beyond “make speech and yell at witness”.

    I pray that at least this once, they remember that something desperately important needs to be accomplished here.

  20. 20.

    Roger Moore

    @dmsilev:

    What these people refuse to understand is that many many many people rely on the Post Office, not just for ballots but for a whole slew of things.

    Their problem is not a lack of understanding, it’s a lack of caring.  They have goals to achieve and they don’t give a fuck who they have to hurt in the process.  I think that kind of single-minded determination is what people are talking about when they say the Democrats should be as ruthless as the Republicans.  They’re wrong- you can’t be the party of taking care of the little guy and then turn around and screw over anyone who gets in your way- but I can understand where they’re coming from.

  21. 21.

    Leto

    @Patricia Kayden: Yeah, as long as Trumpov/Barr are there nothing will happen. All the more reason why it’s fundamentally imperative to remove them in Nov. Also the fact that the USPS has become another rallying cry for us just goes to show how fucking stupid Trumpov/Trumplicans are. Replacing the whistle with a goddamned ship’s horn.

  23. 23.

    geg6

    @PPCLI:
    Admission: I don’t think there actually is a Crottes de Lapin Missouri, and though I don’t doubt that there is at least one town called Hidden Holler in W.Va I don’t actually know that.

    Not sure about either of those, but I have always found the small PA mountain town of Nanty Glo my favorite quaint rural town name.

  24. 24.

    Jeffro

    @rikyrah:  amen! Let’s go, AGs! Let’s go, Congress!

    DeJoy’s going to be so utterly stuck on a spit by Katie Porter, I almost…no, nevermind. He deserves what he has coming to him.

  27. 27.

    jl

    Good thing the extent of the sabotage was evident early. From what I see at 538 blog, the election will be decided in 14 states from states that should be D but might swing because of voter suppression to swing states that are probably  less than 50-50: NM, VA, CO, ME, MI, NH, NV, MN, PA, WI, FL, AZ, ME and NC. Most have statewide early voting systems, and voting starts 17 to 46 days before the election in those. CO is all mail so you have to mail early, I guess. PA, WI and FL don’t have comprehensive statewide systems, but WI has to be at least 14 days statewide, and FL has to be at least 10.

    So, early voting is the key. The Democrats know that, and GOTV should be organized accordingly, and have at least a month to prepare. And I think early voting has been a strategy in previous elections, to lock them in, so they are not starting from scratch. If Dems go at it, can have some voting facts on the ground by election night, at least in states that start counting early. I read that FL got most of their votes counted on election day because of early voting.

  28. 28.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    former PA GOP MOC Charlie Dent, who I believe is one of those Rs who was considered a conservative and gradually came to be considered a moderate as they got crazier, has endorsed Biden

  30. 30.

    Jeffro

    @Marcopolo: I shouldn’t be amazed but I am.  They are literally wrecking the government in the vain hopes of stopping the tidal wave of blue votes that are coming.

    Whatever, jackasses.  We are coming for you one way or another.

    And this McEnany thing today (regarding trumpov ‘accepting’ the results of a loss in November) where she said “…the president* has always said he’ll see what happens and make a determination in the aftermath…”…IT’S NOT UP TO HIM TO ‘ACCEPT’, YOU LYING FRAUD!

  32. 32.

    zhena gogolia

    Today my mail consisted of one AARP magazine. Not a single letter, not a single piece of junk mail, not a single catalogue.

    This never, ever used to happen. Now it happens regularly.

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    @geg6

    Dates back some time, so may have since been improved – the sound coming over the P.A. speakers inside the Scranton bus terminal was so muddy that whenever a stop (Shickshinny) on one route was announced it sounded like nothing so much as Sh*t City.

    ;)

  34. 34.

    Edmund Dantes

    There needs to be a section of the Biden DOJ that goes after all this corruption*. There needs to be consequences.

     

    * Is Trump smart enough to pardon everyone in his Administration  on the way out?

  35. 35.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Patricia Kayden:

     

    Former DHS chief of staff Miles Taylor recalled on MSNBC that Trump “wanted to see if we could sell Puerto Rico, ‘could we swap Puerto Rico for Greenland,’ because, in his words, ‘Puerto Rico was dirty and the people were poor,’” confirming the NYT report from 2019.— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) August 19, 2020

  38. 38.

    rp

    I don’t know…I’m horrified by this of course, but there’s part of that thinks “please proceed republicans.” Like their refusal to budge on the new stimulus package, destroying the post office in such a public and hamfisted manner is profoundly stupid politically, and isn’t likely to help them that much when it comes to the actual election.

  39. 39.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Marcopolo:

    From the thread down below, Patterson NJ mail facility sorting machines in parking lot:

    I don’t know what, if anything, is happening in Patterson, NJ, but in this case Patterson is an area of Grand Rapids, MI. WOOD is a station that covers a chunk of western Michigan (GR, K’zoo, Holland — Price/DeVos territory).

  40. 40.

    Marcopolo

    Lol deleted because of Suibhan’s comment above.  I am apparently a little geography challenged lol.  So much for assuming if the city is Patterson, it is NJ.  I blame William Carlos Williams for my short coming in this area

    Okay, I gots stuff to do in the real world.  See anyone who is on the convention thread in a few hours.

  42. 42.

    jl

    Oops, I forgot Ohio, so make that 15 states. Early voting by absentee ballot starts 28 days before the election. But dammit, I forgot to check what’s changed due to covid-19, but I doubt early voting start dates are being moved closer to the election.

  44. 44.

    Heywood J.

    The fun’s just beginning for that ambulatory thumb DeJoy. State AGs are already chomping at the bit for his dumb ass, and once people start dying because their insulin never showed, the lawsuits and criminal charges will be close behind.

    He’s going to regret putting his money on Orange Foolius, good and hard.

  47. 47.

    NotMax

    @rp

    Besides slobbering over the military, expect a “Salute to the Post Office” to be shoehorned into the production next week.

    “Whitey McWhiteface of Burnt Armpit, Idaho will narrate this look at one of our Great Institutions, for which your favorite president has worked tirelessly to make even greater.”

    //

  48. 48.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @geg6:

    I have always found the small PA mountain town of Nanty Glo my favorite quaint rural town name.

    I’m partial to Soddy-Daisy, TN. Not the town, mind you; just the name.

  53. 53.

    Mike in NC

    A failed businessman with six bankruptcies under his belt is unhappy that the US Postal Service isn’t running a profit. Boo hoo. We can thank the Republicans for screwing with the system in 2006 largely for that. Fat Bastard also has a longstanding feud with Jeff Bezos, so the entire country is made to suffer. I’m about to read Jennifer Rubin’s latest column, imploring Americans to get rid of the entire rotten-to-the-core Trump family.

  56. 56.

    The Mugster

    @geg6: Two hundred years ago, Nantyglo was a huge coal and iron region in South Wales.  As a matter of fact, the name itself translates to “River of Coal,” quite fitting for West By God Virginia!

  60. 60.

    Mary G

    I hope whoever is doing the Dem convention shoehorns some of the ordinary citizens not getting their meds into a segment.

    WaPo has an infuriating article about the bugfuckery that went into “selecting” DeJoy for his position.

    Schumer fired off his initial inquiry to the USPS in June, asking to learn more about the process that selected DeJoy, a former top Republican fundraiser, to lead the Postal Service. The postmaster general is a position filled by the USPS Board of Governors, which in this case relied on an executive search firm, Russell Reynolds Associates, to guide its thinking.

    About a month later, the board responded to Schumer, telling him that “much of the information I requested was confidential” and declining to provide it, the Democratic leader said in his Wednesday note. A lawyer for the executive search firm said the postal board had refused to waive a nondisclosure agreement, blocking Congress from conducting “oversight obligations to better understand the selection of Mr. DeJoy,” according to Schumer.

    Schumer further sought to learn if the White House and Treasury Department intervened in the search process, particularly given Trump’s prominent attacks on the Postal Service and mail-in voting. The top Senate Democrat said his office on its own learned about previously undisclosed contacts between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the board’s governors, which troubled Schumer, as the board had not disclosed such communications.

    One of the thousands of things that need to get done on Day 1 if Dems take the whole government over is outlawing NDAs and confidentiality excuses for government business. This is so anti-democratic.

  62. 62.

    NotMax

    @gwangung

    “I reluctantly ask my opening remarks be waived at this time, to be included in the record at a time to be determined later. My advisers made the mistake of mailing them to me and they have not yet arrived.”

    //

  63. 63.

    jl

    @🐾BillinGlendaleCA: Huh, you are correct, sorry. But ME splits its electoral votes, so in a sense, there are two! Ha ha!

    All of the states listed allow for early in person voting except NH and PA, according to Axios webpage on early voting. So roadmap is clear to get some votes counted by election day.

  64. 64.

    Roger Moore

    @Edmund Dantes:

    * Is Trump smart enough to pardon everyone in his Administration on the way out?

    I doubt he’ll pardon everyone.  He’ll pardon the people who have some kind of leverage on him.  No leverage, no pardon.

  67. 67.

    Mary G

    The stoppage is a lie:

    Internal sources say mail sorting machines are being dismantled at downtown GR post office. Process started yesterday. Order came from Postmaster General DeJoy. @WOODTV pic.twitter.com/tNm9pXjcnU
    — Heather Walker (@_HeatherWalker) August 19, 2020

    Despite DeJoy’s pledge to stop removing mail processing equipment, USPS told to dismantle mail sorting machines in Grand Rapids MI 75 days before election in state decided by 10,000 votes in 2016 https://t.co/RBxbxQgLax
    — Ari Berman (@AriBerman) August 19, 2020

  68. 68.

    dmsilev

    @Roger Moore: By odd coincidence, I happen to have several of those available (for reals, no joke).
    Please note that in order to fit the postmaster in between the diamonds, it will first be necessary to dice him into pieces not exceeding 200x200x50 microns in size.

  71. 71.

    Mary G

    I hope Vote Riders and Let America Vote are setting up programs to help people take their absentee ballots to drop boxes in states with laws against “ballot harvesting.” We need a couple million volunteers to give people rides or massive cash to hire Uber and Lyft.

  75. 75.

    natem

    Oh man, the Principled Leftists are lighting up Twitter to let all of us know they are threatening to withhold their vote for Biden in the Fall. I’m sure all of the Neoliberal Corporatist Blue Dogs will cave to all their demands now.

  76. 76.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    On MSNBC, James Carville leads into his praise of Hillary Clinton with: “I’m sure the New York Times is gonna run a story on her emails tomorrow, but…” “idiotic story and no one will take responsibility for it”. If there were a green room for Nicholle Wallace’s show, he’d probably be sitting next to two or three NYT reporters.

    I’ve been ambivalent about Carville over the years, but he’s been fun to listen to lately

  77. 77.

    Matt McIrvin

    For what it’s worth, my mail ballot for the Sept. 1 Massachusetts state primary is now listed as “Accepted” on the secretary of state’s tracking website, one day after I left it in my curbside mailbox. So at the moment, in-town mail seems to be working well enough here for that.

  78. 78.

    germy

    @NotMax:  Besides slobbering over the military

    My local TV news station has a new feature, saluting our veterans.  A good idea, but some of the veterans who are presented as brave heroes… I don’t know.

    Yesterday, they saluted a guy who was drafted into the army about two months before the end of World War II.  He did his service in the south.

    Another guy served in Germany, but not during any active war there. The Elvis in the service experience.

    My father enlisted after Pearl Harbor, was in the Battle of the Bulge, and ended up a starving POW.

    I had an acquaintance in high school (he’s a trump supporter now) who joined the army in 1977, and spent his time as an M.P. in Germany.  He said he basically stood guard and gobbled pills for a few years, and partied.  But today he presents himself as a veteran, as if he’s no different from my father.

  80. 80.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Why aren’t the postal employees, given what’s at stake, refusing to cooperate with dismantling infrastructure? Is it even postal service employees doing the dismantling?

  82. 82.

    Roger Moore

    @Mike in NC:

    A failed businessman with six bankruptcies under his belt is unhappy that the US Postal Service isn’t running a profit.

    If they wanted to say in business, they should have laundered money for the mob, like any smart businessman would do.

  83. 83.

    germy

    @natem:  Oh man, the Principled Leftists are lighting up Twitter

    Do we know they’re not really Russian disinfo agents?  Lots of people on twitter saying stuff, from the far right to the far left, but they’re really bogus foreign accounts.

  85. 85.

    Roger Moore

    @Mary G:

    One of the thousands of things that need to get done on Day 1 if Dems take the whole government over is outlawing NDAs and confidentiality excuses for government business.

    Honestly, we should eliminate them from a lot of private business, too.  Same with non-disparagement clauses.

  86. 86.

    dmsilev

    @natem: What did he do, or not do, this time to get them pissed off? Besides beat Sanders for the nomination, of course.

  87. 87.

    Matt McIrvin

    @germy: Some of the people I had to unfollow on Twitter for repeatedly saying dismaying True Leftist shit were people I’d known for a long time in non-political contexts. If they were paid Russian trolls they’d have had to play a LONG game, like decades. But it’s likely there are a lot of trolls out there egging on the rest of them.

    I think the medium brings out the worst in people, because everything has to be in short bites that are easily pulled out of context, and there’s a huge incentive to say things that grab attention by being shocking.

  89. 89.

    Roger Moore

    @dmsilev:

    Please note that in order to fit the postmaster in between the diamonds, it will first be necessary to dice him into pieces not exceeding 200x200x50 microns in size.

    Works for me.

  90. 90.

    Roger Moore

    @natem:

    Oh man, the Principled Leftists are lighting up Twitter to let all of us know they are threatening to withhold their vote for Biden in the Fall.

    I thought it was conservatives who made a point of never letting a crisis go to waste.  It makes me think the horseshoe theory may have some merit.

  92. 92.

    Mary G

    Vice reads lawsuits.

    Louis DeJoy spent 30 years as the CEO of New Breed, where, he says, he built the business skills needed to save the post office. Employment lawsuits show the company was repeatedly accused of racist and sexist harassment and wage theft.

    This reminds me of somebody:

    DeJoy has touted his success after taking over New Breed, which his father founded in Long Island in 1968 as a trucking company. DeJoy began working for the company in 1982, and became CEO the following year, according to a bio on the website for his family foundation.

    TW: The details of the sexual harassment allegations are horrifying.

    ETA: added bolding.

  94. 94.

    H.E.Wolf

    @SiubhanDuinne: Yeah, I went back and forth between DePlorable and DeSpicable. DePraved, also too.

    Let’s DeMolish them at the polls in November. DeFinitively, for DaMn sure.

    :) <— this is my Joyful Warrior face

  95. 95.

    Mary G

    @Mary G: DeJoy is also an experienced union buster:

    New Breed’s issues with labor were deeply rooted. In 1997, the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, found that the company had engaged in unfair labor practices at the Compton Army Terminal in Compton, California, where it was a subcontractor. The NLRB found that in 1994, when New Breed won a bid to take over the Army Terminal from the then-current contractor, Maersk, it went out of its way to avoid re-hiring the unionized workforce then employed at the facility. The company employed extreme secrecy to make sure that unionized Maersk employees weren’t even aware of the hiring process:

    It is uncontested that New Breed recruited new employees by placing anonymous advertisements in local newspapers. Responses were then screened, and promising applicants were interviewed at a local hotel. New Breed did not post notices of job openings at the army terminal;  did not tell Maersk employees of the interview process; and did not inform the Unions of the hiring process. As a result, no Maersk employees filed employment applications with New Breed, or requested interviews

    In 1995, an administrative law judge recommended to the NLRB that New Breed be ordered to “reinstate the Maersk employees to their former positions, recognize and bargain with the Unions, and restore the status quo ante with respect to wages and terms and conditions of employment.” The NLRB also found that the company had specifically acted with “anti-union animus.” As the Daily Beast reported in May, testimony from New Breed employees indicated that DeJoy was personally involved in the hiring process and its end-run around the union. New Breed unsuccessfully appealed the decision in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal.

  97. 97.

    germy

    @Mary G:

    We’re being governed by the archetypal Boss’s Son.

    I’ve worked with a few and it was often nightmarish.

    Now they’re governing us.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    Akron-area leaders and residents Wednesday lit up Twitter responding to President Donald Trump’s tweet urging people to stop buying Goodyear tires.
    Trump lashed out against the tire maker — with headquarters in Akron — after a local TV news station in Kansas reported that Goodyear banned workplace political campaigning for any parties or candidates. According to the report, the ban extended to Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan, which is often emblazoned on hats.

    The low quality Trump hires don’t seem to understand that these things they attack are much more popular than they are.

  101. 101.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Kay:

    As someone up above pointed out, they understand that perfectly well; they just don’t care and have goals they want to achieve, not caring who they hurt in the process

  103. 103.

    Kay

    Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan issued a two-part statement on Twitter, starting with a reply to President Trump: “First, you came to destroy American decency. Next, you came to destroy American institutions. Now you’re coming to destroy the American economy and heartland jobs. Luckily you seem to fail at everything you do.”
    The response included an gif of Akron-native LeBron James.

    The Trump people should try shutting up for an hour or two. Try that.

  106. 106.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @PPCLI:

     

    If the USPS vanishes or goes private, there is no way that Fedex or UPS is going to deliver inexpensive mail to Hidden Holler W. Va or Crottes de Lapin Missouri or any of the thousands of other tiny towns across the country. Say goodbye to the local post office folks!

    I hear this argument all the time. I really don’t think that this will be the outcome. I think it’s much more likely that the Republicans will fuck around with rural delivery until it is painful, i.e., a true crisis, and then they will swoop in with an emergency solution that is provided by one or some of their many buddies. Final mile delivery will then be done as an emergency, crisis response, so of course will be very, very expensive — all paid for by the taxpayer. Again. And instead of it being temporary, nobody will ever remember that it was done on an emergency basis. It will just become the norm, and we’ll end up with crappier service that is painfully expensive. But, the rural goobers, as usual, won’t pay their fair share. Blue states will continue to pay for the rural goobers’ lifestyle.

    This has been the Republican M.O. since forever. It seems obvious to me. Hell, Naomi Klein wrote a book on it.

  109. 109.

    Kay

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    and we’ll end up with crappier service that is painfully expensive

    That’s the argument my son made when he moved to Denmark. He said “I pay taxes in the US too- the difference is in Denmark I get something in return for paying them”. He thinks there should be less focus on rate and amount and more on value per dollar paid. I noticed it sort of …disarmed conservatives :)

  110. 110.

    jl

    The two tricky states for early voting are PA and WI, since you have to go through the mail. WI looks like you have to go through the mail both ways to get vote in early. Good thing WI is building a very aggressive Dem GOTV campaign. In OR, you have to get your ballot in the mail, but then can drop it off instead of mailing it back.

    So, I can see why Michelle Obama said ‘vote early and in person if possible’. Looks like they are already planning a response to the USPS sabotage. If organized enough, voting early in person should be more like going to the grocery story, rather than going to a sports stadium with very long lines.

  111. 111.

    Sab

    Why are they dismantling sorting machines in Grand Rapids? Last I checked it is  are ruby red. Justin Amash is their Congressman.

    This isn’t about the election. This is about destroying the Post Office.

  113. 113.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    Final mile delivery will then be done as an emergency, crisis response, so of course will be very, very expensive — all paid for by the taxpayer. Again. And instead of it being temporary, nobody will ever remember that it was done on an emergency basis. It will just become the norm, and we’ll end up with crappier service that is painfully expensive. But, the rural goobers, as usual, won’t pay their fair share. Blue states will continue to pay for the rural goobers’ lifestyle.

    Like how local control and federalism are wonderful things when it suits conservative interests, but if a municipality tries to raise the minimum wage, well then the courts/state government need to get involved and put a stop to it. Funny how that works, doesn’t it?

  114. 114.

    dnfree

    @Kay: I’m a former Goodyear employee. It’s not a radical left-wing institution

    My aunt from West Virginia said that the three Rs they learned growing up in the 1940s were reading, ‘riting, and the road to Akron.  It was a way out of poverty and coal mining for many.

  115. 115.

    Cameron

    @rp: They’re confident that MSM will report “Congress at impasse” rather than “Republicans block USPS funding.”

  116. 116.

    Salty Sam

    @dmsilev: Please note that in order to fit the postmaster in between the diamonds, it will first be necessary to dice him into pieces not exceeding 200x200x50 microns in size.

    Your proposal is acceptable.

  117. 117.

    Skepticat

    Because I live on as island without mail service (actually, that’s true in both countries, but I’m referencing Maine), for the obscene amount of property tax I pay, i get a free post office box on the mainland. This morning, I got a notice from my credit card company that they’ve suspended my account because mail to me (probably my new card, which is about to expire) was returned. After a bit of research, I discover that the post office where I have (HAD) a box has been permanently closed. My niece says there was no sign of that when she was there very recently. The only post office in the South Portland (and in a lovely, historic WPA building), it served ONLY 25,175 residents and handled ONLY approximately 40,182 packages each year. The Portland newspaper is collecting stories of those having problems because of the mess DeJoy is making. One of my brothers-in-law works for the postal service and is the immediate past president of the Maine union, and he was at a meeting with Sarah (Bye-bye Susan) Gideon yesterday. He’s not very happy either. I’ve arranged for a post office box in Portland, but I wonder how long that will be available. I loathe the Rethuglicans.

  118. 118.

    Kay

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    This is a huge category- every single piece is a loss:

    An organization is eligible to use Nonprofit USPS Marketing Mail if it is not organized for profit and none of its net income accrues to the benefit of any private stockholder or individual. Only organizations that meet specific standards and have received special authorization from the United States Postal Service® may mail eligible matter at any Nonprofit USPS Marketing Mail price. Simply being approved for nonprofit status by the IRS does not qualify an organization for the Nonprofit USPS Marketing Mail prices.
    There are 10 categories of organizations that may be approved for Nonprofit USPS Marketing Mail prices:

    1. Agricultural
    2. Educational
    3. Fraternal
    4. Labor
    5. Philanthropic
    6. Religious
    7. Scientific
    8. Veterans
    9. Qualified Political Committees
    10. State or Local Voter Registration Officials
  119. 119.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Kay:

    I disagree. I think they all believe they are loved by the public, because they’re delusional morons who have been pampered their whole lives.

    That’s probably a part of it, but they don’t give a fuck, honestly. I’m surprised postal service employees up and down the hierarchy aren’t just refusing to cooperate with DeJoy’s obviously illegal actions

  120. 120.

    Kay

    @dnfree:

    That’s nice. We have a Continental Tire plant here- the plant just does specialty tires-those giant ones for equipment. Back in the day they used to bring them to parades- “look at the giant tire!” :)

    They’re Steelworkers. It’s a good job. Founded in Akron but no longer based there.

  121. 121.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Roger Moore:

     

    I doubt he’ll [Trump] pardon everyone. He’ll pardon the people who have some kind of leverage on him. No leverage, no pardon.

    Trump will sign any pardon that Barr puts under his pen. Barr will make the pardon as widespread and general as possible.

  123. 123.

    Kay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Perhaps this will change their minds but many postal workers are, in fact, wingnuts. The furthest Right, consistently, were the rural carriers which was amusing because their union is ferocious and they are the highest paid. I used to have to check their cars to see if they met safety requirements. Jesus Christ but the boring Right wing rants I was subjected to – just shut and fix your turn signal.

  124. 124.

    Sab

    @dnfree: Local joke in Akron when I was in high school :”Governor of West Virginia had to resign, because Goodyear called him back.”

  125. 125.

    jl

    OTOH, never underestimate the DNC to to make odd decisions. They asked AOC to second Sanders’ nomination, which some of our worthless news organizations incorrectly reported as an endorsement. Why relegate that role to AOC? Plenty of other people could have done that.

    AOC should have her own spot. If the DNC thinks it can trust fricken Sanders to give a good speech, they can trust AOC more. Maybe they should add another AOC appearance to straighten it out?

    IMHO, Sanders’ should have just dropped out, which would have prevented complications like this.

  129. 129.

    mrmoshpotato

    @jl:

    IMHO, Sanders’ should have just dropped out, which would have prevented complications like this.

    Sanders should have just dropped out in 2016 and fucked off to the forest to take up knitting.

  130. 130.

    Raider Bird

    All those West Michigan GOP voters voting absentee would send their absentee ballots through Grand Rapids. Lots of mail from rural outlying counties gets processed in GR, so they’ll get gummed up as well unless they can microtarget the slowdown to ballots coming from the “wrong parts”.

    Trump needs to win Kent County to win Michigan and he did it by only 3% last time. Trump romped in the more rural west Michigan counties, but he needs every last one of those votes and those folks are old and they use absentees.

    I guess they’re figuring this will hit Ds worse regardless of zip code or maybe they have worse in store for Detroit. Or maybe they’re just dumb and are shooting themselves in the foot.

  131. 131.

    Raider Bird

    @Kay: I got relatives working for the USPS in rural Michigan, and yup, they’re complete wingnuts.

    From the outside, it seems odd they’d work for the government if they hate it so much,  but it’s a good job that let’s them live where they want to live.

  132. 132.

    Raider Bird

    @Sab: Kent County only went to Trump by 3% in 2016 (possibly the suburban distaste for Trump, possibly because Trump was not the son of George Romney).  But your point holds when you throw in all the rural communities that have their mail processed in GR.

Comments are closed.